litcritters

This week:

A Tropical Winter's Tale by Charleson Ong
Limbo Years by Pearlsha Abubakar
Mahogany Water by Socorro Villanueva
The Index of Forbidden Books by Paul de Guzman


Last week:

Sunday by Althea Kontis
Patriotism by Yukio Mishima
Tk'tk'tk by David D. Levine
Cigarettes and Roses by Ben Peek


Next week:

Little Birds by Anais Nin
Nightfall by Charles Stross
The Golden Age of Fire Escapes by John Aegard
The Edge of the Bed of Forever by Jonathan Lethem & Angus Macdonald


*The Litcritters, for the curious, is a Manila-based group that meets weekly to discuss the readings with mutliple goals: to discover new stories and authors, for reading pleasure, to expland reading horizons, to hone our critical faculties, and to learn writerly craft and techniques. My belief is that appreciation (and writing/development) of speculative fiction can only be improved by exposure to other kinds of fiction (domestic/social realism, classics, etc.), which is why the required readings are not purely spec fic (if you are a writer, it is a good idea to expose yourself to different flavors of writing and modes of thinking). This naturally includes works by Filipino authors.

The Litcritters write stories every two months or so, which are then workshopped and subjected to critique, with an eye towards developing quality manuscripts for publishing locally and abroad. Each Litcritter session is preceded by a lecture on some aspect of writing and/or literary criticism.

Currently, all slots are filled but there exists the possibility that we will hold an extended open workshop for interested writers in the future. That said, while I cannot entertain face-to-face discussions or extended email exchanges, I can share the readings (I send them out once a week). If you are interested in receiving digital copies of the materials (these are for personal use and discussion purposes only - the authors hold all the rights), email me.